


Blood Will Tell

by Artemis1000



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Blood, Canon Universe, Drabble Sequence, Established Relationship, Haunting, Horror, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Possession
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-08 08:26:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16425902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemis1000/pseuds/Artemis1000
Summary: DOES BLOOD STAIN?After visiting an ancient Sith temple, words written in blood follow Cassian wherever he goes and that is only the beginning.





	Blood Will Tell

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Day 9 "Stranger Things" of _13 Days of Sniperpilot_ to the prompt of _does blood stain?_

_DOES BLOOD STAIN?_

The letters were barely visible the first time they appeared to Cassian, just reddish smudges on dark, withered stone.

He blinked and squinted and they were gone.

“See anything, Captain Andor?”

Cassian shook his head, returned his attention to the team of Pathfinders he was accompanying in scouting the Sith temple. 

“It’s nothing,” Cassian said and meant it. It had been nothing but an optical illusion spawned by exhaustion and heat.

After all, the temple had been abandoned for centuries, they hadn’t even found signs of smuggler activity.

Strange, maybe, but they had earned some good luck.

\---

_DOES BLOOD STAIN?_

When Cassian opened his eyes, he could still see the blood-red words as if they had been carved into the air right in front of him.

Around him, Pathfinders were sleeping peacefully, a single emergency lamp illuminating the room they had decreed their base camp.

They had laid their traps and activated the motion sensors before deeming it safe enough to sleep without a guard.

Cassian sat up and shivered, the tiny hairs at the back of his neck raising at the distinct feeling of being watched.

He inhaled. There was a metallic tang to the air.

\---

He stepped out of the sonic shower, relieved to be rid of the grime and musty smell of the temple, and most of all to have left the place itself behind.

When he glanced at the mirror, words written in blood were awaiting him.

_DOES BLOOD STAIN?_

A strangled noise escaped his throat before he could stop it.

“Cassian?” Bodhi called, and the door started to open.

“No!” He stared at the door, fear spiking. “Don’t come in!”

A pause. “Are you okay in there?”

No. “Yes! Yes! I…”

When he looked into the mirror, he only saw his reflection.

\---

“Does blood stain?” Bodhi asked, bright-red blood spilling from his lips with every word.

Cassian shied back with a pained noise.

Bodhi… no, the thing looking at him through Bodhi’s eyes, placed a bloody finger against Bodhi’s lips.

Cassian pressed his hands against his mouth until the urge to scream had passed.

“Why are you doing this?” Cassian forced out, and then, because he knew the answer to one question but not to the other, “Why are you doing this to him?”

Bodhi’s lips smiled. Cassian blinked. When he opened his eyes, the blood was gone and only Bodhi remained.

\---

_DOES BLOOD STAIN?_

The words were dripping from the wall of their quarters, a steady drip drip drip that defied all logic and fed an ever growing lake of red.

Cassian knelt at the side of their bed, his fingers brushing over Bodhi’s brows, his hair, his lips. His caresses left bloody smears in their wake. Even with this macabre makeup, Bodhi looked peaceful in sleep.

“I’m sorry,” Cassian choked out. “I have to go. I can’t let it happen again. Not you…”

He leaned down and kissed Bodhi. Cassian couldn’t tell if he tasted of blood or Bodhi did.

\---

_DOES_

Cassian’s hand trembled as he painted the letters onto the temple’s withered stone wall with fingers which bled red though they bore no wound.

_BLOOD_

He had returned to the place he had first glimpsed the words, before he understood their meaning. Around him, the temple laid dark and silent, and so deceitfully abandoned.

_STAIN?_

He placed his hand flat against the wall next to the words. It warmed under his fingers.

“You have me,” he said shakily, for the first time addressing the watchful darkness that once again made goosebumps rise on his skin. “Now leave him alone.”

\---

“Does blood stain?” Cassian whispered whenever Bodhi was alone, whenever he closed his eyes, whenever the ruckus of the crowded base quietened.

They called Cassian a deserter. A traitor. A coward.

When he couldn’t stand it anymore, Bodhi breathed Cassian’s name like a prayer and waited for the beloved voice to return.

He sought solitude, for then Cassian’s voice was louder, and when he dreamt, he saw Cassian painting the words that haunted his waking hours onto the walls of a withered temple.

“Yes,” he said.

When he awoke, he knew exactly where he had to go and he rejoiced.


End file.
